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Arctic Council Listening Session, September 3, 2015(Anchorage, Alaska, USA).
The U.S. Department of State invites members of the public to participate in a forum to discuss Arctic issues in relation to the U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council on Thursday, September 3, 2015 from 3:00-4:30 PM. The forum, held at the NANA offices (909 W 9th Ave., Anchorage), will be facilitated by Nils Andreassen, Director of the Institute of the North and feature Julie Gourley, Senior Arctic Official.
 Today's C
ongressional Action:
The House and Senate are not in session.
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Obama Brings Funding, Climate Change Announcements on Trip to Kotzebue.
The White House on Wednesday announced new efforts and funding to encourage energy efficiency in remote villages and the appointment of a federal coordinator for "climate resilience" in Alaska, in conjunction with President Barack Obama's trip to Kotzebue. The announcement comes on the heels of several others as the president travels around Alaska pushing for clean energy and dealing with a changing climate. Anchorage Daily News
 Obama, Arctic Delegates Call for 'Urgent Action' on Climate Change.
After hearing United States President Barack Obama declare that climate change is the defining issue of the century, leaders from 19 nation states and the European Union - including Canada - said in a joint statement Aug. 31 that they're committed to "urgent action" aimed at slowing the pace of global warming in the Arctic. Delegates at the Anchorage, Alaska conference, entitled Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience Conference, or "GLACIER" for short, spent two days discussing the impact of climate change in the Arctic and how to respond to it. Nunatsiaq Online
Unmanned Vessel to help with Arctic Charting.
When those discussing the expanding Arctic talk of the greatest obstacles facing development and shipping in the region, one of the first topics to come up is the lack of good nautical charts. As was discovered in Unalaska earlier this summer when Shell's rig Fennica ripped a hole in its hull while entering the harbor area, there is no such thing as too much charting. But there are hundreds of thousands of miles that need to be charted, and only a few ice-free months to do so. That's where the newest technology in chart surveying - the autonomous surface vehicle - comes in, says one of the leading surveyors in the Arctic, TerraSond. This summer, the company, which contracts for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as many other clients, started using an unmanned craft to assist it. The Arctic Sounder
 In a First, Chinese Navy Sails Off Alaska.
Five Chinese Navy ships were sailing in international waters of the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska on Wednesday, in what Pentagon officials said was the first such foray by Beijing. The move came on the last day of President Obama's three-day visit to Alaska, in which he became the first sitting president to travel to Arctic Alaska. The White House said that the intent of the Chinese operation was unclear, but that the Pentagon had not detected any threatening activities. New York Times
Sea Ice Melted Faster Than Usual in August, on Pace for 3rd- or 4th-Lowest Year on Record.
Arctic sea ice this year is melting faster than is usual for early fall -- perhaps fast enough to open a deepwater route in Northwest Canada for the first time since 2007, experts said. Only a small portion of the M'Clure Strait passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago was blocked by ice at the end of August, according to the monthly report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center. And if the ice continues to retreat as fast as it has in the last few weeks, the passage, which is a better route for big ships than the shallower Northwest Passage, could open within a week. Alaska Dispatch News
Arctic Council Listening Session Planned for Thursday in Anchorage. The United States is now leading the eight-nation Arctic Council and the State Department has scheduled a listening session Thursday in Anchorage to gather Alaskans' ideas, answer questions and provide an update on the planned U.S. program.
Julia Gourley
, the senior Arctic official representing the U.S. on the council, will convene the session from 3 to 4 p.m. at NANA Development Corp., 909 W. Ninth Ave. Alaska Dispatch News
 Arctic Scramble Spurs New Debate Over UN Law of the Sea.
The international scramble over development, energy and climate change in the Arctic - highlighted by President Obama's trip to the Alaska's far north this week - is prompting fresh debate over whether American influence in the region may be limited by the fact that the U.S. is the only nation in the fight to have never ratified the Law of the Sea treaty. U.S. officials refer regularly to the decades-old U.N. convention as a gold standard for resolving potential future disputes in the Arctic and elsewhere around the globe. But some international experts say there is a whiff of hypocrisy in such rhetoric because - while American diplomats signed the treaty in 1982 - Congress has never actually approved it. Washington Times
Arctic Leaders Outline Local Priorities in Letter to President Obama.
A celebration took place in Kotzebue as final preparations are made for President Obama's visit Wednessday. And with the spotlight on the Northwest Arctic hub - for the first visit by an American president above the Arctic Circle - local leaders have drafted a letter outlining their vision for the Arctic's future. Putting to rest clean-up efforts and last-minute preparations, Kotzebue residents gathered at the community school for a potluck Tuesday night - sharing food, song, and culture with the dozens of visitors from the president's advance team and relatives who came to see the historic visit firsthand. KTOO
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| Legislative Action No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday. |
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Future Events
11th Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies (CHAGS XI), September 7-11 (Vienna, Austria). The study of hunter-gatherer societies has
become, since the landmark conference "Man and Hunter" in 1966, a major topic of study within the social and human sciences community. While scholarly foci have changed during the last 50 years, the principle goal generated during the initial conference, to establish a unified field of hunter-gatherer studies, is as valid today as it was then. CHAGS XI hopes to explore how research results since 1966 and new research agendas can be applied for present and future study.
Eighth Polar Law Symposium Alaska 2015, September 23-26, 2015 (Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska , USA).
The Eighth Polar Law Symposium is co-hosted by
A
laska Pacific University
(APU), the
University of Alaska Fairbanks
, the
University of Alaska Anchorage
(through its
Justice Center
and its
Institute of Social and Economic Research
), the
University of Washington School of Law
, and
Vermont Law School
, in cooperation with the
Arctic Law Section
of the
Alaska Bar Association
. The symposium will be held on both campuses of the University of Alaska. The 2015 theme is:
The Science, Scholarship, and Practice of Polar Law: Strengthening Arctic Peoples and Places.
2015 Arctic Energy Summit, September 28-30, 2015 (Fairbanks, Alaska, USA).
The Institute of the North's 2015 Arctic Energy Summit builds on our legacy efforts to address energy as a fundamental element of the sustainable development of the Arctic as a lasting frontier.Central to this concept is a focus on providing pathways for affordable energy development in the Arctic and for Arctic communities.
The Arctic Circle is the largest global gathering on the Arctic. It is attended by heads of state and governments, ministers, members of parliament, officials, experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous representatives, environmentalists, students, activists, and others from the growing international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the Arctic. The Arctic Circle highlights issues and concerns, programs, policies and projects; it provides platforms for dynamic dialogue and constructive cooperation. While the plenary sessions are the responsibility of the Arctic Circle, the breakout sessions are organized by various participating partners in their own name and with full authority over the agenda and the choice of speakers.
2015 Arctic Science Conference, October 1-3, 2015 (Anchorage, Alaska, USA). The conference theme is "Healthy Estuaries: Sustainability and Resilience." Conference topics include traditional scientific disciplines, science education, arctic social sciences, biomedical research, and artistic interpretation of the evolving North. Abstract submissions are now being accepted. The deadline is August 1, 2015.
The Polar Oceans and Global Climate Change, November 3-6, 2015
(La Jolla, California USA). The American Polar Society will host this Symposium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. A flyer with a partial list of presenters is available on the Society's website (
americanpolar.org
) and from the Society's Membership Chairman by
email.
Forum for Arctic Modeling and Observational Synthesis Meeting, November 3-6, 2015 (Cape Cod, MA, USA). On November 3rd, the
2015 School for young scientists will consider "Regional Oceanography of the Arctic marginal seas" with lectures covering major features of atmospheric, sea ice and oceanographic regimes of the: Bering, Chukchi, Beaufort, East-Siberian, Laptev Sea, Kara, Barents and Nordic seas. On November 4-6, the meeting portion will summarize project accomplishments for the last 3 years of activities and will focus on the formulation of scientific questions and directions for FAMOS future research (2016-2019) to: (a) improve Arctic modeling, employing very high resolution models; (b) develop and test new arctic monitoring/observing systems and (c) improve predictions of Arctic environmental parameters with reduced uncertainties.
Due North: Next Generation Arctic Research & Leadership, November 5-8, 2015 (Calgary, Alberta, Canada).
The Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS) will convene an interdisciplinary conference of early career scientists working on Arctic issues. Topics will include:
Arctic Communities, Arctic Sustainable Development, Arctic Wildlife, Ecosystem and Biodiversity, Arctic Food Security, Arctic Landscapes, Climate Change and Adaptation, Disaster Risk Management, Policy, Politics and Leadership, Arctic Environment (Data and Techniques), Arctic Resources, and Future of Arctic.
Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting, November 17-19, 2015 (Seattle, Washington). The Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting will be 2.5 days and held at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle, Washington. The conference will bring together individuals and teams involved in the collection, processing, analysis, and use of observations in the Arctic - from academia, agencies, industry, and other organizations. The meeting will be convened as a combination of plenary talks, parallel science sessions, and a poster session. The agenda and registration information will be forthcoming.
In the Spirit of the Rovaniemi Process 2015, November 24-26, 2015 (Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland).
When the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy, the so-called Rovaniemi Process, was adopted in 1991, it aimed at overcoming divisions and turning the zone of Cold War military tensions into a region of peace and co-operation. In this joint effort focusing on the protection of environment, and later, sustainable development, the Arctic states supported by indigenous organizations laid grounds for institutionalized collaboration and the emergence of Arctic regional identity. The second international conference will bring together decision-makers, scholars, artists, designers and students to address these questions and discuss the Arctic in global, regional and local perspectives.
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